Royals' Bannister beats Toronto 7-1

The right-hander gave up one hit over seven innings and Jose
Guillen hit two homers to lead the Kansas City Royals to a 7-1
victory over Toronto.

The Blue Jays entered the game leading the majors in runs,
batting average and slugging percentage, but Bannister limited
them to Adam Lind's first-inning single.

"The ball was slipping out of my hand the whole night,"
Bannister said. "I really struggled getting a consistent release
with it. At the same time, it was putting a real crazy spin on
the ball. I throw my fastball without seams and it was literally
slipping the whole night. The closest thing I can compare it to
is the way a knuckleball pitcher throws. You don't walk six and
have an outing like that, but the ball was just moving all over
the place all night. I just stuck with it and battled through
it.

"That's not how I like to pitch. It was weird conditions, it was
misting out there the whole night. So my hand was wet and he
ball just sits there and gets wet."

Bannister walked six, including five of the first 14 batters he
faced.

"That's not the way you draw it up," he said. "I just dealt with
it. I hate putting fans through that, watching me throw balls.
The way the ball was going in the zone, I didn't know if it was
going to cut or back up or what it was going to do because it
was slipping quite often. The approach was to get in the zone
and see what happens. The way they were taking swings, I could
tell they were just as frustrated as I was."

Bannister (2-0) has allowed one run and five hits in 13 innings
in winning his two starts since being recalled April 22 from
Triple-A Omaha. He retired 13 of the last 14 hitters he faced.

After walking the bases loaded in the third, Bannister retired
Scott Rolen on a first-pitch groundout.

"With Scott, I made a pitch when I had to and had the quick late
movement that I was looking for and got the ground ball,"
Bannister said. "That was a big point in the game."

Guillen, who came off the disabled list Saturday, had his 12th
multihomer game. He homered in the first with Willie Bloomquist
aboard, and led off the fifth with his second of the season.

Miugel Olivo, who struck out in all three of his at-bats Sunday,
homered to right-center off Blue Jays left-hander David Purcey
in the fourth after Alberto Callaspo and Mike Aviles had
singled.

"My hitting coach (Kevin Seitzer) has been helping me think
about hitting the ball to right field and today we worked on
that in the batting cage," Olivo said.

Said manager Trey Hillman, "It's always nice when the ball gets
out of this ball park on cool nights. ... It is pretty
impressive for Jose, the lack of consistent at-bats he's had
while on the disabled list, being able to get the timing back."

Lind's two-out single to right in the first scored Marco
Scutaro, who led off with a walk.

"Bannister was working his cutter on both sides of the plate,"
Lind said. "He was keeping it on the corners."

Purcey (0-2) was pulled after five innings, allowing six runs
and eight hits, three of them homers, and three walks. Purcey,
whose ERA jumped to 7.01, has not pitched beyond 5 1-3 innings
in his past four starts.

"The homers came on two sliders up and a changeup," he said.
"Early, I was a little inconsistent."

Bloomquist's sacrifice fly in the sixth scored the final run.

Rolen singled in the ninth off Kyle Farnsworth, the third Kansas
City pitcher, for the only other Toronto hit.

Notes: Callaspo singled twice to extend his hitting streak to
10 games. He is 16 for 34 in that span. ... Blue Jays 2B Aaron
Hill went 0 for 4, snapping his hitting streak at 11 games. ...
LF David DeJesus, who is in a 1-for-17 skid, and DH-1B Mike
Jacobs, who is hitless in his past 14 at-bats, were held out of
Kansas City's lineup. ... The Blue Jays went 1 for 7 with
runners in scoring position.

ALAT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATESOLO HOME RUN BY JOSE GUILLEN (2) TO LEFT WITH 0 OUT IN THE 5TH OFF DAVID PURCEY.CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 1, KANSAS CITY 6DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: B BUTLER (.200, 0-FOR-1, BB)

ALAT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATETHREE-RUN HOME RUN BY MIGUEL OLIVO (2) TO RIGHT CENTER WITH 1 OUT IN THE 4TH OFF DAVID PURCEY SCORED ALBERTO CALLASPO AND MIKE AVILES.CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 1, KANSAS CITY 5DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: C CRISP (.242, 0-FOR-2)

ALAT KANSAS CITY - SCORING UPDATETWO-RUN HOME RUN BY JOSE GUILLEN (1) TO LEFT WITH 2 OUT IN THE 1ST OFF DAVID PURCEY SCORED WILLIE BLOOMQUIST.CURRENT SCORE: TORONTO 1, KANSAS CITY 2DUE UP FOR KANSAS CITY: B BUTLER (.204, 0 HR, 3 RBI)